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Corporate Information: Wellness Facts, Case Studies, and ROI

• For many companies, health insurance is the second highest expense following employee salaries
• Studies show that employers who offer wellness/health programs have long term positive effects on employee wellness and employer costs
• Over 95% of our nation's health expenditures are committed to diagnosing and treating disease only after it manifests
• Researchers estimate preventable illness makes up approximately 70% of the burden of illness and the associated medical costs
• 50% of healthcare costs can be reduced with an effective wellness program (Dr. David Honeycutt, Wellness Councils of America)
• A March 2005 study at Stanford University revealed that for every $50 employers spend on healthcare/wellness programs, they save $300-$500 a year in health insurance claims reductions 

• Employees benefit from improved health and fitness.  
• Employers realize lower health care costs, decreased absenteeism, increased productivity, and increased employee morale and goodwill.

• Heart disease costs the US $51.4 billion each year - $14 billion in direct care, $3 billion in lost workdays, and $34 billion in foregone earnings
• Cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure costs US employers $4-5 billion annually (27 million lost workdays)
• Seriously overweight employees spend 30% more days in the hospital each year than active individuals, and are 20% more likely to call in sick more than one week per year
• Close to 50% of all US adults over age 50 do not know their blood pressure, raising their risk for undetected and untreated hypertension

• 129.6 million Americans, or 64%, are obese or overweight
• The American Cancer Society research findings have linked dramatic increases in risk for multiple cancers to carrying too much body fat.  The below statistics are attributed to obesity and excess body fat.
• 35% of colon cancer
• 23% of breast cancer
• 27% of pancreatic cancer
• 57% of uterine cancers
• 43% of kidney cancers
• 52% of esophageal cancers
• 36% of gallbladder cancers
• 36% of gastric cancers

• Data from over 20 years in the US, Europe and Canada have shown that "The Average ROI for health promotion programs (wellness) is somewhere around $3 for every $1 invested" (Dr. Ron Goessel, PhD, and director of Cornell University's Institute for Health and Productivity Studies)

• A review of 32 studies on corporate wellness programs found:  
• claims costs were reduced by 27.8%
• physician visits declined by 16.5%
• hospital admissions declined by 62.5%
• disability costs reduced by 34.4%
• incidence of injury declined by 24.8%

• Some Case Studies / Return on Investment (ROI):
  
• A study reported average annual savings of $8.5 million during 4 years when 18,331 Johnson & Johnson employees participated in a health and wellness program
• Citibank's health management program reported an estimated return on investment of $4.56 to $4.73 saved per $1 spent on the program (AJHP, Ozminkowski, Goessel et al, 1999)
• Bank of America reported an average of $164 in lower insurance claims for retirees who participated in a health promotion program.  Non-participants costs increased by an average of $15 per retiree.
• Pacific Bell reported $300 per employee in lower claims resulting in $700,000 savings in one year
• Coca Cola reported reductions in health care claims of $500 per participating employee per year
• Prudential reported a drop in the company's major medical costs from $574 to $312 for each participant in its wellness program
• A study of 45,000 Motorola employees found that health care costs of those employees involved in the company's wellness program rose 2.4% per year, the average increase for those not involved was 18.2% per year.

• Absenteeism
• A 2-year study by the DuPont Corporation of its health promotion program reported a 14% decline in disability days - reporting a total of 11,726 fewer disability days
• General Mills reported a 19% reduction in absenteeism after a year of wellness program participation
• Steelcase reported a 55% decrease in medical costs for employees participating in an exercise program

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